Percy Jackson and the Fairytales: Down the Rabbithole
by HyperJuggernaut
Summary: A look at what could have transpired when Percy was kidnapped by Hera before the events of The Son of Neptune. Percy wakes up in a world of fairies and fantasy, and finds himself embroiled in a centuries long conflict that spans the globe. He must aid Tobias Grimm, Cinderella, and the rest of the Huntsmen as they fight against the forces of evil and darkness. EDITED
1. Chapter 1

Percy Jackson and the Fairytales: Down the Rabbit Hole)

Percy's head hurt.

The aching pain throbbing in the back of his skull kept his movements minimal and eyes narrowed as he slowly took stock of his situation.

He was lying in what appeared to be a pile of trash bags. Uncomfortable pieces of metal and plastic poked and prodded at his back. He tried to shift into a more uncomfortable position but his hand fell upon something squishy and moist. Admitting defeat to the pile of garbage Percy opted instead to slowly take in his surrounding area from his mound of rubbish. He lay in an alley, it was late at night, and further down the alley was a neon sign. The neon sign glowed above a closed door with the simple words "open" written in fluorescent green and reds.

Percy searched his brain to try and think of why he ended up with a massive headache and the revolting companionship of garbage. He screwed his eyes shut, but nothing came to mind. In fact, the further and further he tried to go back nothing popped up. There were no memories in his head.

Percy's eyes shot open in a sudden urgency. Did he have amnesia? Did he sustain some sort of head injury? Why could he remember his own name and nothing else?

No answers found him in the garbage pile, and Percy doubted the likely hood that the situation would change if he remained. Percy did the only thing left to do and stood up.

Immediately he regretted his decision, his whole body screamed at him, his joints flared up and his muscles ached like he'd run a marathon carrying a heavy backpack.

Fighting through the pain Percy staggered towards the opposite wall and supported himself against the cold bricks. He turned and leaned his back on the wall so that he could take stock of himself.

He was wearing faded jeans with numerous rips and holes in them. The holes didn't appear to be the store bought kind, and some of them looked suspiciously like burn holes. His shirt was plain, white, and relatively dirty. Percy judged from the look (and smell) of his own clothing that he hadn't been laying in that garbage heap for long.

Percy felt the pockets of his jeans, nothing, great. Not only was he amnesiac in the middle of an alley, but he had no identification or money of any kind.

Was he homeless?

Maybe. Percy decided that it was just as likely as any other scenario.

Going forward Percy surmised that he had two options, exit the alleyway and figure out where on earth he was, or forge deeper and investigate the door with the "open" sign.

Percy decided that he would exit the alley, he had only taken two steps towards the opening and into the city when he heard voices and conversation nearby. Without knowing why Percy pressed himself up against the brick wall and a feeling of dread reached his stomach. He managed to catch pieces of their conversation.

"He's around here somewhere, I can smell 'im"

"Garbage, that's all you ever smell"

"Garbage, and blood"

Their voices were deep and guttural, with a strange quality that Percy could only describe as monstrous. Backing away from the voices, Percy didn't even notice the figure that snuck up behind him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He would've screamed like a little girl if a hand didn't immediately cover his mouth and block any noise. A figure appeared in his vision and a whisper quietly reached his ears. "Come with me if you want to live, and don't make a sound"

The voice was masculine and youthful, and bright blue eyes shown from a face otherwise obscured by black head wrappings. Deciding that he had no other choice, Percy nodded fearfully and followed the stranger.

The stranger led him down the alley, toward the neon sign. Percy followed, fearful adrenaline had overridden his pained body.

The stranger halted underneath the sign and turned to face Percy, the stranger pulled away some of his head wrappings, revealing a handsome, elegant face. "I know you must have only questions right now, but you're going to have to be patient for this next part, it might get incredibly weird"

"Weird?" Was all Percy was allowed to ask before the stranger pulled the door open and pushed Percy inside.

Tobias took a cautious look at the alleyway entrance, and just as two dark figures seemed to enter the alleyway he shut the door behind him. Turning, Tobias let out a small sigh of annoyance as he saw Percy with his mouth slack-jawed and eyes wide as he stood in the entrance way of the pub interior.

Percy could only gaze in mute shock as he looked around the pub. While the interior of the building seemed normal, the patrons were not. Animals of various shapes and sizes dressed in old fashioned clothing. Percy saw a badger in a fine coat with a cane busy arguing with an eccentric looking toad. Knights in armor roared in laughter around a table in the corner. The bartender, who looked like some sort of demon with bat wings and fiery eyes. Percy wished he could stop and gawk more but Tobias had other plans.

"Come on, like I said I'll answer your questions later" Tobias pushed Percy through the crowded pub, past several tables full of the usual patrons and a crowded bar.

"Is that a leprechaun" Percy stammered as he was ushered through a door into the private room.

"Like I said, it'll be weird"

The private room was empty of others, with simple furnishings and a simple, round table in the center. Around the table we're ornate wooden chairs, Tobias prompted Percy to take a seat, with Tobias sitting on the complete opposite.

Now that Percy and Tobias were facing eachother, Tobias lifted an inviting hand. "Now, you can ask questions"

"Who are you?"

"Tobias Grimm, you can call me Toby"

"Where are we?"

"New York, Staten Island"

"No, I mean, what is this place?"

"The Rabbit Hole Pub"

Percy struggled to comprehend the events of the last few moments, finding that it was impossible for him to put into words any of his actual questions. Toby saw this and began to explain.

"Alright Percy, I know this must be all new and completely weird to you, but how much do you know about fairytales?"

"Like, Cinderella?"

"Yes like that"

"I don't know, I saw the Disney movies I guess"

"Well what if I were to tell you that it was all true?"

"The Disney movies?"

"No the Fairytales!"

Percy began to process this newfound information. Suddenly so many things he saw in the room he walked into made sense.

"Okay then." Percy breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed ever so slightly.

"That's it?" Now it was Toby's turn to be confused. "Normally people tend to be in more disbelief about the whole thing"

Percy shrugged. "I guess I'm a more open minded guy" was all he could offer in his defense.

A thoughtful look crossed Toby's face. "How much do you know about yourself then?"

"Just my name". Percy concentrated once more on anything personal that he could remember. "Yah, just my name". He concluded in defeat.

"Percy." Toby stated. Said Percy jumped in his chair and gripped the armrests tightly.

"How do you know that?" Percy asked, his eyes narrowed and the hairs on the back of his neck tingled with caution.

"The two scumrags outside the alleyway were talking about you. I was tracking them and I figured I'd have to get to you before they did". Toby explained in a simple fashion.

"And who were those guys exactly?" Percy asked

"I don't know their names or anything, but they're werewolves. You know, hunt for blood, smell stuff, full moon, all of that." Toby explained as Percy's eyes widened.

"What would werewolves want with me?" The question sounded so surreal, Percy realized. Yet strangely, it didn't feel disturbing or unusual to him. The lack of disturbance however disturbed Percy, why was he taking all of this in stride?

He felt something in his jeans pocket, he reached into it and felt a ballpoint pen.

"Well that's exactly what I'm going to try and figure out." Toby grinned excitedly. "We're going to the Lodge!"

Percy took a glance at the simple ballpoint pen in his hand, he decided to investigate that mystery later. He stood to follow Toby, who was standing in front of a large floor length mirror on the far wall.

"Wait, is that like a magic mirror?" Percy asked, and if he wasn't so confused and worried he might've been excited.

"You're catching on quickly Percy". Toby grinned at him. Without another word, he grabbed Percy's arm and stepped through the mirror.

What happened next was the strangest experience of Percy's life.

Well, that he knew of.

He was falling, and all that he could see were the strangest of images, wild colors and vivid hallucinations made Percy question if he wasn't on some type of mind-bending drug. He saw wild colors and heard incredible sounds in his fall, he didn't know how long he was falling, it could've been a minute or an hour. Time seemed to forget it's stately waltz and instead jumped into an erratic breakdance.

Percy hit the floor.

Dazed and incredibly confused (not that it was a new feeling for him) he looked around again.

The floor was cold and stone, grey in color, and the room felt a great deal craftier. Percy pushed himself into a stand to study his new surroundings. Unlike the pub, the room Percy now found himself in was dark, lit by a series of torches which hung from the wall around the room. To Percy it seemed like he was in the inside of a castle, which shouldn't have been possible. A wooden door stood at the far end of the room, which itself was moderately sized. Percy did a quick check for Toby.

Toby was engaged in conversation to a giant.

The man stood well over what appeared to be six feet tall, he wore a simple button up flannel shirt and clean jeans. On his feet he wore work boots, and in his hand was a large hammer. Like a sledgehammer if the head of the hammer was almost he size of a basketball.

Percy also took the time to get a proper look at his new friend Toby. Toby looked almost like a ninja, he wore a black tunic with dark grey pants and black boots. Around his waist was a simple string belt with a small brown pouch tied onto one end. Toby himself looked to be a youth no older than Percy, with a clean cut of blonde hair that was just a little messy at the top. The giant of a man holding the hammer had dark skin the color of coffee beans and a stern face.

"And this is Percy, found him outside the Rabbit Hole". Toby gestured to Percy. Percy gave another start at being suddenly included in whatever conversation was being had. The giant turned his gaze towards Percy and looked him up and down. Percy felt himself shaking a little as the man's critical gaze swept over him. The giant suddenly broke into a comforting smile and extended a hand.

"Mirror travel can be pretty crazy on your first time can't it?" The man's voice was deep, yet soothing at the same time. Percy felt himself relax as he took the man's hand, and he felt a smile himself.

"Well anyway Percy, this is John Henry."

The name felt familiar to Percy, like he had heard of it a long time ago, but he couldn't quite grasp it.

"Doubt he's heard of lil ol' me" John let out a jolly chuckle. As the chuckling subsided John's face grew more serious. "Alright Toby, the council is ready for you, they await you and Percy here at the table."

Toby's smile flashed into nervousness territory, an act which didn't go unnoticed by Percy.

"Alright Percy, if you were confused before, just wait until you meet them". Toby started off towards a heavy wooden door at the far end of the room.

"Meet who?"

"The Council of course"

Percy noticed that Toby's mood had visibly shifted, he seemed more nervous and wary. If Toby was nervous, that made Percy doubly so. Toby opened the heavy looking door and pushed on through into a hallway, Percy followed.

Without having seen the exterior of whatever building they were in, Percy could safely say that the castle was extravagant. The fine stone that comprised the structure was smooth and shiny, torches decorated all the hallways, and thick rugs marked the paths. On the walls hung all manner of decorations Percy guessed could be found in a castle, swords, shields, other weapons, tapestries, the heads of various animals, and banners with a multitude of designs.

Percy had never been in a castle before, to his knowledge that is, so he walked a little slower than Toby. While Percy marveled at the weaponry and tapestries Toby forged on ahead.

Percy stopped in front of one tapestry in particular. The woven tapestry depicted a bridge. On the bridge were two figures, one was what looked to be a young man with dark hair wielding a bronze sword, the other was a large and imposing figure decked out in black armor. Percy stared at the tapestry and felt a sense of familiarity and dread in his stomach. Or maybe he was hungry.

"Come on, you'll have time for the Hall of Prophecies later." Percy snapped out of his reverie and turned to see Toby, who was also intently studying the tapestry.

"Hall of Prophecies?" Percy asked.

"Yup, woven prophecies." Toby nodded. Percy's gaze went back to the tapestry with a new appreciation for its gravitas.

"So this is the future?" Percy asked.

"You're a bright one." Toby said quietly under his breath, but Percy didn't seem to hear him. "Anyway, we have to get to the briefing room, the council is waiting."

The hallways had absolutely nothing on the "debriefing room" as Toby had called it.

Percy had followed Toby into the large room. Unlike the hallways, the stone in this room was a black polished marble. The shape was an octagon, the ceiling arced high into the distance, with the ceiling disappearing into the darkness. On one side of the room an ornate fireplace was engraved into the wall with a roaring orange flame dancing within.

The rooms only furnishings were another round, heavy wooden table with accompanying chairs. Percy guessed that the table could seat at least thirty people around it, but then again he was terrible at math, right?

Toby had taken a seat on one end of the table, and prompted Percy to sit next to him, which Percy obeyed. Then Percy noticed that they were not alone.

Seated opposite of the pair were three figures. The first on the left was an elderly man with a long white beard, Percy thought he looked like a classical wizard, like a Gandalf or a Dumbledore.

The man on the right wore the same type of tunic that Toby had, but his face was unobscured. He was a handsome man with a hat on his head that had a single red feather in it. This man was engaged in conversation with the wizard.

Finally the man in the middle. He also wore a black tunic, and he had a large bushy beard that was dark in color. His eyes glinted dangerously, and Percy shuddered when he realized that the man was staring directly at him.

"So, uh, my name's Percy?"

Percy regretted speaking as soon as he closed his mouth, all conversation in the room ceased and all eyes were on him. Beardman's gaze had hardened. Featherhat's expression was unreadable, and the wizard only had a curious smile.

Toby gave him a look that said _you idiot_

LINE BREAK

The awkward silence went on for what felt like years, everyone was just staring at me like I was a gerbil who had just learned to talk.

Finally, the Wizard looking man spoke.

"Our guest is correct, introductions are in order" The wizard gave me a kind smile that I swear I've seen before, but the harder I tried the more the memories seemed to slip away.

"I'll start then!" Featherhat stood up and flashed me a smile so white and charming he could've been in a toothbrush commercial. "I am Robin Hood, leader of the Merry Men, member of the council, and perfect Englishman."

Okay so that seemed to all make sense. I knew who that was, Robin Hood was the whole 'Rob from the rich and give to the poor guy'. Robin Hood gave a polite bow and took a seat.

"I am Merlin Ambrosius, Wizard, and member of the council." I smiled to myself a little. I knew that he was a wizard.

"I am Markov Grimm, Head of the Council." Said Beardman.

I didn't know who that was.

"You're not a uh-"

"No. I am _not_ a fairytale." I shrank in my seat, I could feel the poison that accompanies those words.

After another silence, I realized that they were waiting for me to speak.

"I'm Percy, and I don't really remember much." This introduction didn't seem to have any effect on the council, except for Merlin who stroked his beard.

"I found him outside The Rabbit Hole, I knew he was there because two Wolfmen I was tracking were talking about the smell of fresh blood." Toby had stood to speak. I was relieved to see that the attention of the Council had switched to Toby.

"And you just brought him into The Lodge? He could be a spy!" Markov, the beardman, scolded. Toby visibly winced and I felt bad for him. I didn't like Markov.

"Well it's difficult to explain father, but Percy feels, _different_." Toby tried to explain. I was a little surprised as I looked between Toby and Markov, now that I knew, I began to notice some similarities between the two. Then I felt like an idiot for not knowing as soon as Markov introduced himself with the same last name.

Markov was about to open his mouth with what would surely be another venomous scolding when Merlin put a hand on his shoulder. Merlin stood and flashed Toby and I another kind smile.

"Tobias is correct Markov, I too can sense something about this here Percy. And besides, if Percy weren't who he said he was, I'm sure Tobias would've been able to figure it out."

I liked Merlin.

"Now I'm sure our young guest has questions." Merlin's gaze now shifted to me.

"So you guys are like, the actual Merlin and Robin Hood? Like from the movies and all that?"

Merlin and Robin both chuckled a little bit, and Robin Hood answered me.

"Well yes, we are like, the actual like, real deal. From the stories mind you, they didn't have the cinema back in my day." Robin said with a small chuckle and a grin. Robin Hood had a mischievous smile, like he was always up to no good. Another pang of familiarity raced through me, like it reminded me of something.

"Okay, so, where are we exactly?" I asked.

"The Lodge, primary headquarters of the Huntsmen." Merlin answered.

"Alright, now what are the Huntsmen?"

Markov answered this question.

"The Huntsmen are an organization that has existed to keep the world in balance for many years." His deep booming tone reminded me of a soldier.

"In balance between what?"

"The world of the Fairytales and the world of the Mundane. We make sure that the two sides remain at peace. We make sure that the Mundane never discover the existence of the Fairytales, and that the Fairytales never overstep their boundaries."

"But didn't the Fairytales all happen like, hundreds of years ago? How are you guys still alive?" I felt a little guilty for asking this question.

"It's all rather complicated, and exists on a fairly case-by-case scenario, but we are essentially ageless, we exist as we want to, for as long as we want to." Merlin answered. "When one of us is killed, we usually are reincarnated or something or other."

"Woah" The thought of immortality seemed a little dizzying.

"Enough questions, the council is now going to depart and discuss what is to be done with our, guest." Markov stood, the word guest was said in the same way he might say _gym shorts_ , the crinkle in his face agreed with this.

One by one the Councilmen stood. Merlin and Robin both gave polite bows while Markov just turned and walked away. Eventually all three filed out of the far door, which closed with a thud.

"Well, that was, fun." I said. Toby gave me a strange look, but said nothing.

"So that's your dad?" I asked him. Toby's face contorted into a face of displeasure like he just smelled something disgusting.

"Yup, Markov Grimm, Lord of the Huntsmen, father of the year." Toby smiled a little while his voice dropped with sarcasm.

"Must be tough."

"Fathers man, they're never the best."

I couldn't agree more, but I wasn't sure why.

 **A/N: So I re uploaded the first chapter and edited it slightly since I wasn't too satisfied for what I originally had written.**


	2. Chapter 2

Small talk with Toby was a little awkward. He never really lived a normal life, and I don't remember anything about myself.

Plus he didn't seem like he was the talkative sort.

So there wasn't much we could talk about.

So the first fifteen minutes, we just kind of sat there. I didn't have a great sense of time in the debriefing room, or the whole castle now that I think about it.

Finally Toby broke the silence.

"You're taking all of this surprisingly well." He started. I turned back to him, he was still sitting in the same chair from when we originally came into the room. I had gotten too restless and I was exploring the debriefing room. I couldn't sit still for some reason. Do I have ADHD?

Great.

Another thing I don't know about myself.

I thought that my memories of who I was would come back to me after a bit of time. Yet here I was, I knew my name, Percy. I sleep in garbage, and I have a pen.

Reflexively I pulled the pen out of my pocket, it felt like a motion that I've completed many times before.

Was I a writer?

No, I doubt that, I don't think I'm that smart.

Well what did I know about myself?

Well I have black hair, green eyes, and I'm pretty buff.

Maybe I was a model or something? But if I was a model why would I be sleeping in the garbage?

The questions had started to make my head hurt, I should probably stop thinking so hard.

Probably not a writer.

I twirled the pen around in my hands, something caught my eye. There was writing on one side of the pen, I studied the writing closer.

Written on the pen was one word, _Anaklusmos_. Was it a name?

I didn't have much time to wonder

"You're just gonna go silent on me?" Toby said. My head snapped up, I had completely forgotten about Toby. Trying to remember what he said I stammered an answer.

"Sorry, just kinda thinking about things. And yah, I guess not really remembering much helps for accepting things"

Toby seemed satisfied with the answer I gave him, and wasn't looking like he was going to ask any follow up questions, so I turned back to the pen.

 _Anaklusmos_

 _ **Riptide**_

All at once, like a current taking me away I remembered something, A shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. I saw myself battling creatures, large black dogs and giants. I saw myself make short work of them with my sword. I was fighting another figure, who also had a sword, one that was half steel and half bronze, I could feel the tension as our blades clashed. I was in an arena, fighting someone who wielded a dagger. Our blades locked, but my memories faded before I saw their face.

I woke up to Toby shaking me awake. He had a panicked look on his face and he was yelling my name over and over again. He visibly relaxed when I opened my eyes.

"Are you alright? You just collapsed on the floor! I thought you had like a stroke or something." I smiled, Toby's tone was sincere and concerning, which was nice seeing as I've known him for all of thirty minutes.

"I'm fine. I uh, I remembered something." Toby helped me to a stand in front of the table, his face took on a new curious look.

"What did you remember?"

Without explanation or reason, with only what I thought was pure instinct I picked up the pen from the floor. I uncapped it.

I almost killed Toby.

The sword nearly skewered him as it emerged from its pen form. The blade was every bit as magnificent as I saw it in my memories.

I was too shocked to speak, to do much of anything except hold it in my hands. The blade felt perfect, I could feel it as if it were an extension of myself. Not too heavy, not too light, I gave it a few test swings. The sword cut through the air in graceful gliding arcs. I studied the blade more intently. The hilt of the blade had the same word that was on the pen.

 _Anaklusmos_

 _ **Riptide**_

That was its name, Riptide. I held the blade and didn't even feel the wide smile on my face. I didn't see Toby's utterly shocked expression. I definitely didn't notice the Council return into the room.

A small - _ahem_ \- caused me to almost drop my sword.

LINE BREAK

This guy just keeps getting more surprising.

I've been trying to pin him down ever since I picked him up from outside of the Rabbithole. I had a few theories obviously.

The first: He was a fairytale. It doesn't happen often but it happens. Fairytales die, suffer trauma of some kind, or simply grow weak. Next thing you know you have an ageless storybook character wandering around, not really knowing who they are, and generally causing problems.

But Percy didn't exhibit any of those characteristics. Sure he didn't know who he was, but he seemed like a pretty normal guy otherwise, and not at all like his mind had taken a long walk off of a short pier. Plus, I've never heard of a fairytale that matched his description.

The second: He was a Mundane that had been exposed to the Magical World in some way. That happens every now and then too, usually the barrier between the two worlds keeps the Mundanes from ever noticing anything out of the ordinary, but every now and then one of them has their eyes opened. Either forcefully or by pure accident, and their Mundane minds just can't handle the change and they shut down.

This didn't work for two big reasons. The first was the same as for the first theory, that Percy seemed like he was in pretty good control of his mental facilities. The second, was the bronze sword he pulled out of a pen from his pocket. Normally Mundane don't do that.

The third and final theory that I could cobble together was that this "Percy" was a liar. An enemy of some kind hoping to get inside The Huntsmen and destroy them. I have to say I didn't really like this theory. Percy seemed like a really good guy. A little clueless, but altogether a solid dude.

So if all three of my theories are out the window, then everything else might be as well.

That is to say.

I had no idea what this guy was.

So I did what I normally would do. I observed.

First I noticed the way he carried himself, a small slouch, but other than that he stood confidently, without knowing it as well. He was clearly well muscled. A streak of grey hair disrupted his otherwise black. That was perplexing.

He was handsome, that could easily be seen. Percy had a slight mediterranean look to him, like something from antiquated times.

I also observed Percy's twitchiness, he was never standing still or looking in one direction for long. Most of this could be attributed to ADHD, but I noticed other qualities that led me to believe there was more to it than that.

Percy never shoved his hands into his pockets, he either had never made frequent usage of a smartphone or simply didn't have one. This was a rare quality.

The twitches and lumpiness looked somewhat trained and honed. I believed that Percy's past wasn't very typical, he did fighting of some kind and was involved in more than one dangerous situation.

He also didn't have much of a reaction to the fact that Fairytales were real. He seemed more intrigued than shocked. Whether he knew it or not, Percy must've been around that type of block before.

Curious indeed.

Which finally brings me to the sword. It was a beautiful weapon, a work of art on all accounts. I've never seen a blade quite like it. There was a lot of material there as well. The blade was one handed, meant for use in lightly armored combat or with a shield. Or as a backup weapon, but it wasn't quite small enough to be a short sword. Furthermore the way Percy handled it, even as he was giving a few test swings told me that it was a weapon he was intrinsically familiar with. After that was the obvious magical nature of the weapon, what with it being a former pen and all.

Finally was the writing on the hilt. I say writing because I couldn't read it, it looked like it was a name of some kind, perhaps the name of the weapon. I did somewhat recognize the language, I saw similar markings on old pottery and college fraternity and sorority shirts.

Ancient Greek.

Very Curious.

I considered myself observant, a Huntsmen after all has to be. There were a lot of tricky characters in the world of magic. Years of training had refined my senses into that of an animals. It took me about thirty minutes to put together my case on Percy Jackson, based on nothing else besides his up front looks and his fidgets.

The way my father and the other members of the council are now studying them, it had taken them all of about five.

Seconds.

Merlin had that dangerous, curious glint in his eyes that was warning you to back up several feet from the splash zone yet also inviting you closer to see some really cool stuff.

Robin was admiring the sword that shown in Percy's hand, clearly very much impressed by it. Robin Hood only ever got so excited about a few things, and fine blades was one of them.

My father, I mean, Commander Grimm, was unreadable. But from the way his eyebrow ever so slightly inched its way up his face, I could tell that he was very much intrigued.

Which was never good for anybody.

He smiled.

This was never, _ever_ , good for anybody.

"Well well Mr. Percy, looks like you've been holding out on us."

I had hunted witches, dragons, trolls, and even demons.

None of them were anywhere near as terrifying as Markov Grimm.

LINE BREAK

Toby was right, Markov sucked.

From the debriefing room I was whirled around the castle (I think they call it The Lodge?). Luckily I had managed to put away Riptide, turns out it's a matter of capping the blade. The pen now sat in my pocket, the presence was a comforting blanket in the whirlwind of activity.

Markov took me first for "threat assessment" as he called it. For what felt like ages I was stuck in a black square room sitting at a sparse table as Markov picked my brains apart and threatened me with all kinds of torture if I were a spy.

I had nothing to hide (I thought so at least) so I told him everything. About the flash of memory, the name of the sword, anything I could think of. Eventually it worked, and Commander Grimm, as he was apparently called, allowed Robin Hood to take me.

I liked Robin Hood, which didn't seem obvious at the time, but he was fun, jovial, and all in all relaxing. It was still annoying that he put me through a series of increasingly difficult physical tests.

Finally it came to the point where we tested my skill with various weapons.

The first thing Robin handed me was a bow. For about half of a millisecond I thought I could maybe hit the target.

Turns out the only thing I could hit with a bow was the ground.

Spears, axes, pole arms and clubs of all kinds I did decently with, but the weapons felt heavy and extremely cumbersome in my grip.

Finally we moved to swords. I was pretty sure that Robin had saved this step for last.

Instead of giving me a sword, he told me to simply use my own.

I uncapped Riptide for a second time that day.

After doing a few practice swings and checking my form, Robin Hood challenged me to a duel.

It caught me a little off guard.

"I'm sorry, I thought you said you were challenging me to a duel?" I asked, hoping against hope that I heard the Englishman wrong. The look on his face told me that no, I didn't hear him wrong, and that he was very excited.

"Think of it like a small sparring session!" Robin said to try and lift my spirits.

We made our way out to the middle of the arena.

I should've mentioned the arena.

I didn't have much time to really look at the rest of The Lodge as I was shuffled around. The hallways were more or less the same, but I did see some other people dressed in the same dark tunics. They would stop in conversation and whisper to each other whenever I passed.

The weird thing being that this entire scenario felt extremely familiar.

So anyway the arena.

The arena was very different from the rest of the building. Robin and I had entered from the bottom, and I looked up.

It was like about the size of a basketball court, with tiers of seats surrounding it. On the are a itself grew soft green grass. I don't know how all this grass was kept healthy without the sun or anything, but that was a question for another time.

So I found myself standing about twenty meters away from the one and only Robin Hood. He had found some time to change his clothes. No longer was he sporting the black tunic and wraps, now he wore a dark green tunic underneath a mottled green cloak. He wore tough grey traveling boots, simple pants that went along with the color scheme, and a green hat upon which sat a red feather.

I nervously gripped Riptide and I could feel sweat in my palms.

The duel went about as well as expected.

I was knocked onto my butt within seconds, Robin standing above me with his sword leveled against my throat.

"You're thinking too much." Was all he said.

I don't think I've ever gotten that type of criticism, but I realized he was right. I took my place again, and this time, I tried to let instinct guide me.

We circled each other warily, both holding our swords in a guard position. Robin seemed to be taking this one more seriously. His eyes narrow and laser focused, and I felt a bit like a deer in headlights.

He darted forward at a speed I thought not achievable by anything short of an unladen swallow (don't know where that came from). And even more amazingly, my blade met his.

In a smooth parry I had deflected his sword, which was aimed for my right side, and immediately pulled a slash for his center. Robin jumped back, letting the tip of my sword breeze just past him.

If he was surprised, I couldn't tell. Robin Hood was all business now. He came at me now in a flurry of movements, feinting left and striking from the right, jabs when I was off balance, quick swings when I tried to press and advantage.

I was holding my own however. I didn't fall for his feints, I managed to deflect or dodge anything that I couldn't outright avoid or duck under.

The duel continued at this pace for another minute or so, and I was starting to feel exhausted, while Robin looked like he might start breaking a sweat.

I was determined to beat him, or go down fighting. With my sword in my hand and blood pumping through my veins I felt more alive and focused than ever. I knew I wouldn't win the war of attrition, so Ihad to go on the offensive.

After dodging another wide arc, I seized my opportunity and rammed my shoulder into Robin Hood.

The impact surprised him more than anything, which gave me critical time to begin an offensive of my own. I made a backhanded slash, forcing Robin to hastily block it and prepare for another attack. Now he was on the back foot and I wasn't going to let up.

I jabbed forward, forcing him to sidestep, which allowed me to duck under his counterattack, I was about to slash again, and hopefully end the duel when I saw her.

Passing by the arena entrance, a girl with blonde hair and stormy grey eyes.

A new wave of memories crash over me.

A young girl, with hair curled like a princess standing over me. The same girl, older than me now, climbing a rock face. I see her shouldering a terrible burden, a streak of grey hair. I see a heroic decision, and I see a face underwater, shining beautifully in the moonlight.

I remember a name

 _ **Annabeth**_

The next thing I know, I'm lying on the ground and Robin is standing over me, worry in his eyes and a crease in his brow.

"You alright mate?" He simply asks.

I manage to nod my head, but this particular memory brings with it a wave of emotions, they run the gauntlet all the way from frustration and anger to joy and love.

Love?

Was I in love with her?

The girl at the doorway wasn't the girl in my memories, I guess the similarities triggered them. I looked over and the doorway was empty.

"Well I think that's enough. You're a pretty fine warrior Sir Percy." Robin's jolly tone returned and he helped me to my feet. I capped Riptide and put it in my pocket. Almost as if on a trigger a wave of exhaustion washed over me and I staggered on my feet. Robin moved quickly to help me stabilize and placed one of my arms over his shoulders.

I didn't see the broken shards of the practice sword that had shattered against my skin.

 **A/N: Seems like as good a place to end the chapter as any. I tried to do some more characterization this time, and include a little action (which there will soon be a lot more of). Next chapter we're going to meet some exciting characters, and maybe get started on a quest?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Merlin's room wasn't at all like I expected it would be. I imagined it would be an impressive spiraling tower with all sorts of creepy artifacts. Maybe a bubbling cauldron or a crystal ball. Merlin's room looked more like a therapists office than anything else.

"Have a seat" Merlin told me after opening the door. I took a seat at the therapists chair. "You may be surprised with my choice of decor"

"It wasn't what I was expecting." I admitted. Merlin had taken a seat across from mine on a rocking chair, he held a clipboard and a pen. Sitting in his office you would think he's just an old therapist or doctor.

Except for the wizard clothes and the odd smell.

"I didn't think it'd be so, brown." For a second I was worried that I'd insulted Merlin in some way and that he'd turn me into a newt or something. Instead he just chuckled at what I said and looked around the office himself.

"Yes, well I thought it would be a nice change of pace from all the black marble and torches." I let out an affirmative noise and for a few seconds no one said anything.

"So are you gonna like, ask me about myself?" I ventured a guess, I didn't like just laying in the chair while this wizard guy analyzed me.

Merlin took my idea into consideration. "I suppose we can start with that yes." He nodded. "Well, for the record, your name is Percy yes?"

I nodded and watched as he scribbled some notes onto the clipboard.

"Do you have a surname?"

The pang of memory loss hit me again as I tried to remember a last name. "I don't know." I shook my head in defeat.

"Do you remember anything about your life?"

My mind immediately went to the flashes of memories I had experienced earlier. I wasn't sure I wanted to tell Merlin all the things I remembered. Then again, Merlin was probably my best bet at helping me understand who I was.

I told him everything I knew, which wasn't too much. Essentially about my sword, Riptide, and Annabeth. All the while Merlin only watched me intently, only pausing to jot down a quick note or two.

I finished spilling all of my (short) life story and Merlin gave an approving nod. Then he leaned forward as if he had bad news for me.

"While you were telling me your story Percy, I tried to peer into your mind and discern the cause of your amnesia." He explained.

"Wait what." Was all I could say. I don't know how I felt about Merlin poking around in my head. It seemed like a major breach of personal space for starters.

"I apologize for the intrusion, but it was the best way to speed along this whole process. And what I learned wasn't good." His gaze had turned dark and serious, and the kind tone was replaced by one of business.

I gulped and felt like a stone had hit my stomach. "Well what's the problem then?"

"There is a powerful force that is blocking off any memories you have. Ancient magic is at work here, and frankly I don't have the tools to remove such magic without melting your brain." Merlin explained and I reflexively rubbed the back of my head.

"I would like to keep my brain unmelted actually." I said with a nervous chuckle, but any attempt at humor I threw up Merlin didn't find it at all funny. "Is there anything you do know about me? Any way to regain my memories without melting my brain?" I asked, hoping that whatever solution Merlin had would be easy and not super insane.

"As for solutions, you can either wait for whoever placed this enchantment upon you to lift it, or you go to someone who can remove it from you." Merlin said.

"Aren't you like the strongest wizard out there? Who could possibly help me when you can't?" I asked. If Merlin the Great couldn't cure my amnesia I was really struggling to think of somebody who could.

"The Blue Fairy." Was all Merlin uttered. The name carries a weight that seemed to dim the lights a little and shake the 'Camelot Crusaders' paperweight on his desk.

"The who?" I asked.

"One of the most powerful beings on the face of the planet." Merlin explained. "And she just went missing."

"What?" Was all I managed to sputter out. I had a lot of questions for the Wizard, just as I opened my mouth again to ask them Merlin lifted his hand to stop me.

"More will be revealed in the morning, for now, go get some sleep."

LINE BREAK

Merlin thanked me for my time and led me to what he said was my room. My room was a small square cut in the wall that was slightly larger than a closet, on one side of the wall was an army cot.

I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I flopped onto it and fell into a deep sleep.

That night I had a dream.

I was floating in a dark room. Room was generous, it was more like a cave. The only source of light was a small torch burning without any smoke. There was one figure in the room.

A man was sitting cross-legged with his head bowed and his hands on his knees. He looked like he was in some sort of meditation or something.

The man was huge, sitting down I could easily see that he stood at least seven feet tall, he wore a black tank top and camouflage pants with combat boots. He looked like a soldier of some kind, he had a shaved head, and his body was covered in muscle.

"Yes, we have her, my men are gathering the necessary ingredients as we speak."

If a tank could talk, it would sound like this guy. His voice echoed off the cave walls and filled me with a sense of heavy dread. Even creepier, a voice answered.

"The Mistress will be pleased." The disembodied voice was a woman's. The accent sounded something like English, the voice was calm, inviting, but also made my skin crawl."

"We're nearly done with the list. The Solstice draws near." The man said.

Solstice? I may be amnesiac, but I know when I'm eavesdropping on villains plotting their evil plan.

"Guard your tongue, He watches." The voice said. I gulped, I was pretty sure I knew who _He_ was.

"Ah yes, Mr. Jackson." The man chuckled and lifted his head so he was looking directly at me. "Take a message to those pathetic Huntsmen. Their time has come, the Witching Hour of the Solstice spells their doom!"

I woke up to the sound of alarms.

LINE BREAK

As soon as the distress beacon sounded I shot out of bed. I've never heard it myself before in my lifetime, but all Huntsmen were trained to know exactly what it meant. The Lodge was under attack.

I quickly put on my tunic and slung my pack over my shoulder, and rushed out of my room.

The hallway was in a state of complete chaos, the violent shaking had resulted in chunks of the ceiling and the walls to start to collapse into the hallway, I looked around frantically to try and find any of the other Huntsmen.

That was when the noise reached my ears. Beneath the pounding alarm I head the sounds of combat, the clangs of metal and the screams of the wounded. I dashed down the hall, past the open doors of other Huntsmen, towards the sound of the violence.

The sight wasn't good.

I reached the Northern corridor when the stench of blood hit me and I peered into the hallway. This is where a lot of the new recruits were housed, fearing the worst, I rushed in.

Several Huntsmen of varying ages and level of experience were engaged in battle with figures in black armor wielding black blades.

Black knights. On their chest they bore a blood red crest of a wolf's head. There were about a half dozen of them facing off against roughly the same number of Huntsmen. Luckily for us, we had Robin Hood.

I drew my sword and leapt to the side of the archer, who was currently engaged to one of the knights. Robin shot me a sideways glance as I joined him in combat and swung my sword. The iron blade simply deflected off of the knights black plate, but it took focus off of Robin Hood which was my goal all along.

"What happened?" I yelled as I ducked below a swing of the deadly sword. None of the other Huntsmen could spare a moment to answer, but Robin managed a reply.

"Someone broke the castle defenses from the inside! Woke up to these bastards kicking down doors! Multiple breaches across the Lounge!" He managed in short spurts.

While the numbers were even the Knights had a distinct advantage, their plate armor made them nigh invincible from the front, a fact that was slowly resulting in them pushing our line back. Robin began yelling commands.

"Shoot for the groin or the eye plates!" I wasn't sure if the others understood the command but I grit my teeth and rolled between the knights legs. Bringing out my dagger I viciously stabbed him in the place where the sun didn't shine.

The Knight collapsed with a high pitch cry, and I almost felt bad for him.

With this strategy in mind we managed to shift the tide of the battle, and eventually only the Huntsmen stood.

There were about seven of us including Robin, and about five more lying dead on the floor. I didn't want to investigate who died, we didn't have the time. Robin gathered us in a circle and began issuing orders.

"Listen up all of you, The Lodge is under attack from a full scale assault, I don't know how exactly all these buggers got in, but I know that this little skirmish wasn't the last of them, there are more elsewhere and no doubt there are more coming." Everyone gave a weary, but confident nod.

"You lot I want you to keep going down this corridor and get to the library, either protect the texts there or burn them. But we can't risk them falling into enemy hands." Robin pointed to three of the Huntsmen who nodded and immediately sprinted off down the hallway. "You two head up and find Merlin's study, stuff in there is likely what they're after and I'm sure the old chap could use some help." The last two Huntsmen nodded and sprinted off down the hallway.

"What do I do Robin?" I was eager to defend my home, my sword was ready and I was waiting to be pointed to the heaviest of the fighting.

"I need you to go to the dungeon and find Percy. Make sure he's safe, and get him out of here. Merlin left a message for you at the Pub, which I believe has yet to be compromised. Give the barkeep the password, and complete the quest."

I couldn't help but feel so incredibly disappointed. And angry, actually more angry.

"But I can help here! I'm one of the best ones we've got! I have to help defend my home!" I protested, Robin gave me a dangerous look that told me he might gut me himself.

"Don't question my orders!" He thundered. "Find Percy and get OUT."

I ran back south.

LINE BREAK

I opened the door to the hallway, alarms were sounding the whole time like the building had a fire or something. Cautiously, I scanned the outside. My hallway was clear. I reached inside my pocket and drew out Riptide, uncapping it, I held the sword in front of me as I exited my room.

Since both sides of the hallway seemed clear enough, I picked a direction and ran.

I maneuvered through the dark twisting corridors at first at a full sprint, then a jog, and now a walk. I leaned against the wall in exhaustion.

"Where is everybody?" I wondered aloud.

Of course, whoever was in charge had a delicious sense of irony. Just as I shut my big mouth three large men in full knight armor stepped from the shadows. One held a sword on angular shield. The other held a long staff with a heavy, vicious axe on the end. The one in the middle had a large rectangular shield in one hand, and cruel mace in the other.

Call it intuition or spider-sense, but I didn't think these guys were here to help me find my way.

The middle stepped forward and swung his mace downwards. I jumped back just barely in time as the mace collided with the marble floor with a _SMASH_ , leaving a crater in the floor.

Yah these were definitely bad guys.

The first one hefted his mace again while the other two advanced to either side of me in an attempt to flank me. I cautiously stepped back, doing my best to keep all three of them in my sights.

"You guys probably aren't Huntsmen." I said. If the attempted murder didn't tip me off, the blood red wolf crests on their chest screamed _I'm a bad guy!_ loud enough for me to get the message.

The knights chuckled, which might have been the scariest thing I've ever heard, it was a sound like metal against chalkboard.

"You're smart for a halfbreed." The knight with the sword sneered. I was about to let out an indignant comeback, which came out as more of a yelp as the pole axe just barely passed over my head and buried itself in the wall.

"I'll take the compliment." I said through clenched teeth as I avoided another series of attacks from the three knights. As armored and tough as these guys were, they were noticeably slower than myself. I decided to use my speed as an advantage.

The next attempt to turn me into a Percy Pancake came from the sword guy who called me a halfbreed. He charged with his shield, intending on pinning me against the wall and probably stabbing me. I sidestepped the attack just in time as he lunged past me and crashed into the wall. I shoved the point of Riptide into the chink in his armor between the bottom of his helmet and the top of his chest plate. He gave a strangled cry that was somewhere between a scream and a gurgle and collapsed. Instead of just keeping over and dying, the armor seemed to crumple in on itself until it was a mangled piece of scrap metal on the floor, then it disintegrated into black dust.

Could I do that? Or was that just how they died?

I didn't have much time to answer the question before the one with the mace let out a fearsome cry and charged. I braced for another sidestep-backstab combo but at the last second he dropped the mace and shield and instead grabbed me.

The knight held me in his arms in a bear hug as I kicked and struggled to break free. The one with the poleaxe took a swing at the back of my head.

Note to self: Axe swings delivered by six and a half feet tall knights hurt a lot.

The blade made contact and I was fully prepared to lose my head. What happened instead was amazing. Upon making contact with my skin, the blade shattered into a hundred different pieces. As the knight only stared with what I could only assume was utter shock at his now broken weapon I tried to wrap my head around what happened.

I couldn't, so I just chalked it up to superpowers.

"What sorcery-" was all the disarmed knight had to say before he, and the one giving me the bear hug, collapsed into dust.

I fell to the floor with an unceremonious _oof_ and looked up.

"Come on Percy." Toby stood over me and offered his hand. "Orders are to get you out of here."

I took Toby's hand and hauled myself to a stand. Before I could say anything the sound of a distant explosion echoed in the hall and the floor shook. Cracks raced along the wall in a spiderweb fashion and Toby took off in the direction he came.

Seeing no other option, I followed.

"Who are these guys? Why are they attacking? What's the shaking? What do we do now?" Somehow I managed to ask all these questions while simultaneously keeping pace with Toby. Maybe it was the adrenaline from fighting or maybe it was my instinctual will to live.

"Black Knights. They hate us." Was all Toby managed to utter as we began racing down a spiral staircase. Going down seemed like just the wrong way to go, but it was either follow Toby or get skewered by some black knight so down the stairs I went.

"And the shaking?" I asked as another tremor forced us to stop and make sure we didn't fall down the rest of the stairs.

"That'll be the Lodge falling apart. We have to get to an emergency exit".

We hit the bottom of the stairs and raced down a dark hallway, this one seemed less refined then the ones above, and I could feel a strange tugging sensation in the pit of my stomach. At the end of the hallway stood another large mirror, like the one we used to get here.

In front of the mirror stood two more knights and a third. The third wore no helmet, and had a cruel face with a large bushy beard. And his hair was blue.

Toby and I came to a halt as the knights all drew their weapons. "Bluebeard" Toby spat.

Looking at the newly dubbed Bluebeard it was easy to tell how he got the name.

"Tobias Grimm." Bluebeard spoke, he was surprisingly eloquent and polite sounding. Like he was greeting a friendly acquaintance. "Are you ready to die?"

"Depends. Are you ready to get a haircut?"

Apparently that was a bit of a sore spot for Bluebeard. His face contorted into a violent scowl and he pointed at us. "Kill them!" He barked. The two black knights the flanked him on either side stepped forward.

These guys seemed more intimidating than the mooks we took down in the hall. Instead of a wolf emblazoned on their chest, it was a bear. Logic followed that this meant they were stronger in some way.

I felt a bit like a tactician when I made this observation, usually my brain hurt from so much thinking. Strangely my head was clear, adrenaline and combat seemed to do that for me.

Each of the knights held a long sword in their hands were holding them in a cautious stance pointed a little upwards. The one across from me advanced towards me and I readied Riptide.

LINE BREAK

I had some serious questions for Percy after this whole ordeal. Mainly how he survived an axe to the head.

Questions would come later. I had a bear to kill.

A quick lesson in Black Knight rankings.

The wolf crested ones are as you guessed, the weakest. The slowest, dumbest, and most numerous.

Next were the bears, these guys were stronger than the wolves, faster too. Almost just as dumb though.

The third ranking were the stags, thats when they started to get clever.

The final rank were the dragons. I've never seen any in my life, and the only one I know who's killed any was my father.

I suppose I should've been worried for the old bastard, but I'd be lucky if he was taken down.

Back to the bear at hand.

The bear took a wary stance, I'd have to take the first move. I held my own longsword in a similar stance.

I couldn't afford to trade blows with him, the full armor gave him too much on the defensive end. Grappling with him was out of the question, the Bear would tear me in half.

I feinted a swing from the right, and just as I suspected the bear immediately went in for a swing to my left. He intended to match my attack and trade blows, I ducked under this attack and stabbed him just under the arm in his armpit. The Bear grunted in pain, but unfortunately he didn't go down.

The bear proceeded with a much more reserved strategy. It would be much harder to crack him, he didn't even respond to the feints I threw out.

Then a column of water slammed into the bear, pinning him against the wall. Stunned as I was, I wasted no time in drawing my dagger and plunging it into his eye hole.

LINE BREAK

If I ignored the knight dudes calling me halfbreed and being kinda rude, today was pretty good for me. Especially when I compared it to the only other day I can remember.

First I found out I was basically untouchable.

Now I have water powers!

Toby got up from the remains of the black knight and shot me a questioning eyebrow.

I must've been a sight, standing over what was once a black knight, with the lodge's plumbing system spewing it's contents into the hall (don't worry, it wasn't the toilet system, just water). The best part is that I stayed completely dry the whole time.

I gave Toby a friendly shrug. With the knights defeated, I turned to Bluebeard.

Who must've slipped away during the battle. I heard Toby mutter a few choice words that I won't repeat, but no amount of swearing was going to bring back Bluebeard.

"Do we like, go in the mirror now?" I gestured with riptide to the mirror, which was just sitting there as always.

"Yes." Toby pinched the bridge of his nose frustration. Letting out a sigh he grabbed my hand, and touched the mirror.

Mirror travel was just as funky as I remembered it, but this time I somehow landed on my feet upon exit.

Toby (who was slightly wet) and I were standing in the living room of a rather upper class looking apartment. The furniture was all stuff you might find at an IKEA, and the whole room was tastefully decorated.

"Well things must be looking very bad indeed if you've straggled all the way back here." I saw the owner of the apartment.

It was the girl I saw in my bout with Robin. Her hair was up in a set of curlers and she was currently wearing sweatpants and a "Avalon University" t-shirt, but it was definitely her.

"Percy Jackson, meet Cinderella." Toby gestured to the blonde. "My Ex."

 **A/N: So I ended up speeding the plot along a little bit, I needed a scenario where my characters were cut off from leadership, and I wanted to establish a more frantic mood. Of course now I've gone and set myself with a time limit. I'm trying to remain accurate to the dates that Percy had gone missing for, if I slip or something do let me know. This chapter was rather hastily published, so I'll comb through it later.**

 **A review with any suggestions or comments of course would go a long way!**

 **Cheers**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"You dated Cinderella?"

"I see he doesn't like to talk about me."

"What's there to talk about?"

My gaze bounced between the two blondes. Cinderella had her arms folded over her chest and had tilted her chin just so slightly upward in a perfect expression of haughtiness. She was actually quite beautiful, she had a slim, athletic figure, and a quite attractive face. My mind went back to Annabeth, the girl I remembered when he saw Cinderella initially. Up close, there were more differences than similarities. Cinderella had a thinner face and a lighter complexion. They both looked like princesses.

Toby's expression was unreadable, which I was starting to realize meant that he wasn't happy. There was an irony there that I couldn't put into words.

Neither of the two looked like they were going to make the first move, which left it up to me to break the ice.

"So anyway." I started nervously, immediately both of their gazes snapped towards me and I felt like a chum covered seal in shark infested waters. "We just came from the lodge which was being attacked by knight dudes." I half pointed towards the mirror we came through in an attempt to illustrate my story.

Cinderella's face immediately went from anger to shock to worry, back to anger, then to worry again.

And then back to anger.

"WHAT?" She yelled, not even at me, her attention had returned to Toby. "HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN I WAS JUST THERE YESTERDAY!?"

Toby weathered the storm like a pro. "Well you see Princess, while you were up here in this little tower of yours, a bunch of black knights ambushed us. I don't know how they got in, and I don't know what happened after I left with Percy."

"Are you saying that it's my fault The Lodge was attacked?" Cinderella's voice shifted again, her questions carried a meaning beneath it cloaked in venom.

"I'm not saying anything Princess-"

"Don't you dare call me that"

"All I'm saying." Toby spoke through clenched teeth. "Is that things aren't too great now. Don't feel bad."

I could see a burning comeback form in Cinderella's eyes, but she merely nodded while shooting dagger with her eyes.

"So who's this?" Cinderella gestured towards me.

"That's Percy."

"Besides the _obvious_ you idiot."

"He found me yesterday in the garbage." I cut in, hoping to diffuse another potential argument. "And I spent the last night in the lodge, and now I'm here."

Cinderella turned towards me and scrunched her face as if I was a bad smell. Then a spark of recognition.

"I saw you yesterday, you were dueling Sir Robin Hood!" She smiled at me. "Are you alright? We kinda made eye contact and you fainted."

I toyed with the idea of telling her about my amnesia and the memory she sparked in me, but that would've been weird.

"I was just tired." I managed a smile.

Cinderella gave me a sympathetic smile and turned back to Toby. "Alright. Sorry for the outburst, but what are you planning to do now?"

"Percy and I are going back to the Rabbithole. Merlin left us a message." Toby said, his tone was a lot more professional and I was glad that tensions weren't going to boil over again. Then what he said registered with me.

"We're going back?" I asked, a little insulted that all these decisions were being made without my consultation.

Cinderella's eyes narrowed. "I'm coming with you." She stated

"Don't be ridiculous." Toby said.

"I have to get out of this 'tower' every now and then thank you very much. And I have friends at The Lodge, I'm going with you."

Toby threw me a look begging me to take his side. I just shrugged back. "Three is a pretty comfortable number."

Toby turned back to Cinderella with a dull "Fine."

"Excellent, let me go get ready."

Toby and I sat around for about twenty minutes. I told him about my dream.

"Not sure what to make of it, it's in line with what's been going on."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Toby glowered at the ground.

"The Blue Fairy went missing last week, now we know for sure that it's due to enemy action."

"Enemy action?"

"Bad guys, basically evil characters in the stories. We've been at war with them for as long as the Huntsmen have been around. We stop them from trying to take over the world and such."

"Well then, that sounds like a great group of people."

"They're the worst."

"Also that guy called me Mr. Jackson."

At this Toby looked up with a small smile. "Well Percy Jackson, you have a full name now."

A few awkward seconds passed by, I rolled the name around in my tongue. Percy Jackson. It felt good. It felt _right_.

"So how was dating Cinderella? She's like a princess right?"

Tobias scrunched up his face in the same way that Cinderella had. "That whole thing is complicated, the every stagnating nature of Fairytales and whatnot. Dating her? Not too bad." Toby said

"You kinda don't make it seem like it."

Toby winced. "It was really stressful. We're both Huntsmen, the pressure of it all kinda got to us. Things got messy."

"Oh." Was all I could say. I tried to imagine what it'd be like to be involved with somebody when your life is all missions and fighting. I could see that it starts to get to you.

"So why did we come here instead of going straight back to the bar?"

"Because the Pub is likely to be compromised. This was the closest mirror point that I knew for sure would be safe."

I felt like there was more to the situation than he was letting on, but I didn't want to pry any further in that direction.

"So isn't Cinderella supposed to be married to like, a prince or something?" I asked. It was a question that had been bothering me a bit, I guess wrapping my brain around Fairytales was harder than I thought.

"Don't ask her about that. It's a bit complicated, she's been a combination of young, and reincarnated for a long time now." Toby explained like what he said explained anything. "Let's talk about you Percy Jackson." Toby leaned forward in his chair with a curious glint in his eyes.

I felt a bit like I was a science experiment and Toby the scientist. The way he looked at me told me he was trying to analyze every possible detail he could gather about me. I didn't enjoy it too much.

"Your powers. You can control water, you're basically invincible, you have a magic sword, and you know how to use it."

I wanted to be able to explain everything, but honestly I couldn't. "I don't know. You have to believe me. I was just as surprised as you when the axe broke, and the water thing..." I tried to figure out how to explain the sensation. "It was like a tugging sensation, I could feel the water calling to me, so I just willed it to do what it did. It felt like something I've done before." I said.

Toby nodded at my explanation, I guess he seemed it adequate. "You're an interesting one Percy."

"Thanks?"

Thankfully Cinderella chose that moment to walk in.

She was dressed in what in what I had to assume at this point was the Huntsman uniform. Her hair was up in a tight bun, and she wore a dark brown rucksack. Hanging from her side was a quiver loaded with arrows, and the bow was clutched in her hand.

"Let's get to it."

We had to walk a little ways to get back to the Rabbithole. Toby led with Cinderella closely behind. The New Yorkers on the street seemed to stare straight past Toby and Cinderella, and instead gave me wary looks as if I was the sketchy one.

Along the way we made some small talk and I got to know Ella (as she insisted I call her) a little better. She also asked the same questions Toby had, so I just decided to tell her everything. Except that she reminded me of a girl that I had feelings for.

Or maybe have.

I'm not sure and my head hurt. I was tired, it was probably somewhere around four or five in the morning. I should've been asleep but instead I was walking through New York with two ninjas and strangers giving me the side-eye.

Not ideal.

After what felt like an eternity of walking we finally reached the pub. As we turned into the alleyway I noticed the familiar pile of trash. I pointed it out to my new friends, but Toby ignored me while Ella suddenly figured out what it was she'd been smelling this whole time.

I needed a shower.

Then I noticed an odd smell as we approached the pub. An even stranger one than could be expected in an alleyway pub.

The smell of blood.

Out pace picked up and we ended up sprinting to the doors. The scene inside was not what we wanted.

The tipoff that something was wrong (besides the smell) was the wide open door. It looked as if it had been nearly torn off its hinges. Inside was an absolute wreck. It looked like a tornado had kicked up in the middle of the room.

The suspicious stains on the ground and tufts of fur hinted at something far worse than some broken furniture and spilled condiments.

Ella gave a small gasp and Toby grimaced as he stepped forward, his foot making a crunching noise as he stepped on the pieces of broken bottles and glasses.

"Compromised." Was all Toby said. He hurried over to the bar and began investigating behind it, looking for something.

Ella and I stood around poking through the debris somewhat aimlessly.

"So what was this place exactly?" I asked.

"A pub." For a second I thought that was the only answer I was going to get. I was about to complain but Ella continued. "The Rabbithole is one of the gateways to The Lodge and has been considered a safe place for Fairytales who weren't out to do evil."

"Until now." I said verily bluntly. It was probably the wrong thing to say, Ella gave a small nod and leaned over to set a chair as it should've been.

"I should've been here to defend it. Against whatever monsters managed to break through." She said.

"Worry about that later Ella." Toby interrupted as he came over to join us. He pulled up a chair and sat down at one of the tables that was somehow still standing. "Merlin left a message here, found it in the hidden safe."

"Is that what the attack was for?" Ella asked as she took a seat at the table.

"Is that an iPhone?" I asked as I pulled up a seat as well.

"Maybe, and no." Toby laid out the device, which looked a lot like an iPhone, out on the table so that it's screen was facing up. "It's a one time message so we better listen."

I later learned that these were essentially pre-recorded messages stored in magic tablets that played their message precisely one time for the intended recipient, then exploded. At the time I just shrugged and accepted whatever Toby told me.

Without any prompting the screen lit up. A small blue hologram of Merlin stood on top of the screen. It reminded me of the hologram devices from the Star Wars movies. Tiny Blue Merlin began to speak.

"When this message reaches you it is likely that the Lodge has been irreparably damaged. You must find and free the Blue Fairy. Our enemy works quickly, find the Blue Fairy to find your answers."

And just like that the image flickered out and the device crumbled into black dust.

"Well there's our objective." Toby looked up and we all shared uneasy looks. "From what Percy's dream said, we don't have much time. In fact I think we have less than a weak until whatever our enemy is planning happens."

Ella gave a hard nod. "We need a plan of action, we don't have much time so we have to find out how the enemy's moving. We need information."

"Right." I said, feeling proud of my strategic contribution.

"Who would have the info we need?" Toby asked.

"Someone experienced with the criminal element."

"I have an idea, but you're not going to like it."

A look of understanding dawned on Toby's face. "Oh please no."

Ella allowed a small smirk to dance on her face. "His place isn't too far from here if we get a ride."

Feeling left out I chimed in. "Who exactly are we talking about?"

Toby gave me a look of warning. "How familiar are you with the tale of Rumpelstiltskin?"

 **A/N: that's all I have for today. Have any comments please leave a review!**


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